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Topic: Kindle books (Read 4666 times)

On the urban fantasy side of the fence, I've devoured every one of the "Dresden File" novels by Jim Butcher. Tom Sniegoski's Remy Chandler books (A Kiss Before the Apocalypse) are pretty interesting as are Sandman Slim, the "Twenty Palaces" books by Harry Connolly (Child of Fire). The Dresden novels do have vampires, but they're usually the bad dudes and only variety "glitter" all sexy like.

On Sci Fi, I just got done reading Blackout by Connie Willis. Awesome book about a group of historians who work for Oxford in 2060 who are sent back to the Blitz period of WWII in England to observe the happenings and study the events up close and personal. I'm waiting for the library to deliver the second half "All Clear" to the local branch.

Oh and read "Old Man's War" yet if you haven't. It's like a really good non-juvenile Heinlein juvenile.

I have not read Blackout. Thought Connie Willis sorta dropped off the map abruptly. This might be my next book since I've read the others in her alternate world. Wow the last book I read of hers was "Passage" and that was 9 years ago. Thanks Drew!

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The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. -Richard P. Feynman

I haven't read Blackout yet either, but I read all of the older ones in the same series, Firewatch, To Say Nothing of the Dog, and another . . . Doomsday Book. Good stuff.

Old Man's War is on my list, because it was on the list Jeff linked to and I haven't read it yet. There's a lot of good books on that list, I've read more than half of them. I've put the other rec's on the list too, I'll see what grabs me next time I am looking for good books.

I don't have much of an opinion either way on the kindle. It seems cool, but I got it as a gift and haven't really had time to play with it. But since I'm going to see the gift giver in a couple of weeks I figured I should bring it with me and put some books on it. I don't plan to bring any other books with me for a week at the beach, so I'll have an opinion after that.

I have to say though, it makes me a little grumpy that the kindle versions of some books are more expensive than the paperback. How does that make any sense? Then when there's the public library and Half Price Books it gets hard to justify. I can get a paperback copy of American Gods for $8 from Amazon, or the $10 Kindle version . . . I don't expect them to match the used price, $3 from HPB, but shouldn't it be no more than the paperback? Or even less?

I don't usually read a lot of sci-fi, but I've really enjoyed the William Gibson stuff I read. I just started reading Kraken by China Mieville. I'm not far enough along to offer an opinion, but my brother-in-law dug it and recommended it to me (he also recommended the Gibson books).

I have to say though, it makes me a little grumpy that the kindle versions of some books are more expensive than the paperback. How does that make any sense? Then when there's the public library and Half Price Books it gets hard to justify. I can get a paperback copy of American Gods for $8 from Amazon, or the $10 Kindle version . . . I don't expect them to match the used price, $3 from HPB, but shouldn't it be no more than the paperback? Or even less?

Can't blame you there. Considering that the expenses for making an ebook are nowhere near those for producing a printed book, there's no way I could justify to myself buying an ereader. (I'm a cheap SOB) I'll keep my printed book library for the foreseeable future. (besides, I have some nice, collectable, 1st editions in there)

Asimov is one of my favorite authors, so most anything by him (never read any of his westerns or detective novels though) is a good read IMHO. A lot of his books also tie in to his Foundation series. Particularly the assorted robot novels. (Think of those as prequels.)Anne McCaffrey is best known for her Dragonriders of Pern series.Orson Scott Card"s Ender series or The Tales of Alvin Maker series are goodJack Chalker's Quintara Marathon or Soulrider quadrilogiesC.J. Cherryh - most anythingArthur C. Clark - Another of the "most anything is good" authors. The 2001 saga, & the Rama series are favoritesGorden R. Dickson's Childe CycleTerry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series was a much better read than the TV show based off of them. (go figure)Ursula K. LeGuin - Earthsea series (the TV miniseries pales in comparison)Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat series. Because they're amusing, over the top, escapism.Katherine Kurtz She has a few interconnected series dealing with a race called the Deryni. medieval fantasyJulian May - The Galactic Milieu seriesLarry Niven - most anythingMargaret Weis - most anythingRoger Zelazny - Chronicles of AmberThere is also a 4 book set put out by the SciFi book club that is a compendium of the various thieve's world novels edited by Robert Lynn Asprin. Basically he takes all the novels (written by many different authors) and puts the chapters into something reasonably close to chronological order. Authors include Robert Asprin, Janet Morris, Poul Anderson, Lynn Abbey, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Andrew J. Offut. The omnibus volumes are titled Sanctuary, Crosscurrents, The Shattered Sphere, and The Price of Victory. They are unfortunately long out of print, but can be found in the occasional library or at online used book sellers.

http://www.bookcloseouts.com/ often has some really good sales on new books. (A few months ago they had a $1.99 fiction sale. Damn but that hurt the checkbook. )And if any of you has a collection such as myself, this is an excellent program for cataloging your books. (also has music and movie versions) http://www.readerware.com/And Baen (A large scifi publishing house) offers some free ebooks. http://www.baen.com/library/

So now that we got the recs out of the way what is your opinion of the Kindle? There are other options out there and the K2 has some flaws IMO. I'm particularly enamored with the app which has further enhanced my reading.

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FWIW, I recently looked at all the various e readers to get one for my wife. I settled on the Nook 2 black and white model. She loves it.

I have to say though, it makes me a little grumpy that the kindle versions of some books are more expensive than the paperback. How does that make any sense?

For that, I would talk to the boys and girls at the publishers. You'll notice on almost all the Kindle books the page on Amazon will say "Price set by Publisher". That's Amazon's way of letting you know that the gouging isn't coming from them. In fact, they had a big ass battle with several big groups like Penguin a few years back over that which lead to the pubs pulling their e-books from Amazon for several months.

I have to say though, it makes me a little grumpy that the kindle versions of some books are more expensive than the paperback. How does that make any sense?

For that, I would talk to the boys and girls at the publishers. You'll notice on almost all the Kindle books the page on Amazon will say "Price set by Publisher". That's Amazon's way of letting you know that the gouging isn't coming from them. In fact, they had a big ass battle with several big groups like Penguin a few years back over that which lead to the pubs pulling their e-books from Amazon for several months.

A very sore spot with me!

It's all data. No paper. No presses and printing or ink. No binding. No workers packing books in boxes. No shipping. No trucking or fuel costs. Brick and mortar? Gone. Titles in a database where they can produce copies for practically nothing. YET they are MORE expensive!

Years ago I complained about it on the Amazon forum and was succinctly relayed a mantra that the "costs" in making traditional "books" are irrelevant and that the digital versions are treated like commodities subject to supply and demand of the market. I say don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining! The publishers must be seeing profits like they never have before. Hopefully the authors are getting a bigger share too. If the publishers are trying to make their profits up front and are worried about digital piracy, I must say that I haven't found a program to strip DRM yet. Not that I would attempt this; and the vast majority wouldn't either.

As I see it, the savings are in the new releases which if bought in hardcover would be $30+. Often the kindle versions are less than $20, so if one can't wait six months for a trade paperback then this is where the real savings can be seen.

So while the device has enhanced my reading, I actually read less because of the expense and my principles. I used to drop about $100 a month at Borders for titles I could hold in my hand and loan out to my friends. Now I'm much more picky in my choices. Balanced by this is that one can get a book anytime without getting up from the chair- even at 3am...

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The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. -Richard P. Feynman

For fantasy I recommend David Eddings' "The Belgariad" & "The Mallorean"

My problem with Eddings is that one trilogy reads nearly the same as any of his others. Read one of them, you'll have the plot and story line of the others. He seems to follow a tight script with all his series. I read The Belgariad 1st, thought it was good and got The Mallorean. Was disappointed. Read the first book of The Rose, and it was like reading the 1st book in the other 2 trilogies.

For fantasy I recommend David Eddings' "The Belgariad" & "The Mallorean"

My problem with Eddings is that one trilogy reads nearly the same as any of his others. Read one of them, you'll have the plot and story line of the others. He seems to follow a tight script with all his series. I read The Belgariad 1st, thought it was good and got The Mallorean. Was disappointed. Read the first book of The Rose, and it was like reading the 1st book in the other 2 trilogies.

To me this is the problem with fantasy in general. And why I quit reading the genre.

Logged

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. -Richard P. Feynman

I have to say though, it makes me a little grumpy that the kindle versions of some books are more expensive than the paperback. How does that make any sense?

For that, I would talk to the boys and girls at the publishers. You'll notice on almost all the Kindle books the page on Amazon will say "Price set by Publisher". That's Amazon's way of letting you know that the gouging isn't coming from them. In fact, they had a big ass battle with several big groups like Penguin a few years back over that which lead to the pubs pulling their e-books from Amazon for several months.

A very sore spot with me!

It's all data. No paper. No presses and printing or ink. No binding. No workers packing books in boxes. No shipping. No trucking or fuel costs. Brick and mortar? Gone. Titles in a database where they can produce copies for practically nothing. YET they are MORE expensive!

Years ago I complained about it on the Amazon forum and was succinctly relayed a mantra that the "costs" in making traditional "books" are irrelevant and that the digital versions are treated like commodities subject to supply and demand of the market. I say don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining! The publishers must be seeing profits like they never have before. Hopefully the authors are getting a bigger share too. If the publishers are trying to make their profits up front and are worried about digital piracy, I must say that I haven't found a program to strip DRM yet. Not that I would attempt this; and the vast majority wouldn't either.

As I see it, the savings are in the new releases which if bought in hardcover would be $30+. Often the kindle versions are less than $20, so if one can't wait six months for a trade paperback then this is where the real savings can be seen.

So while the device has enhanced my reading, I actually read less because of the expense and my principles. I used to drop about $100 a month at Borders for titles I could hold in my hand and loan out to my friends. Now I'm much more picky in my choices. Balanced by this is that one can get a book anytime without getting up from the chair- even at 3am...

I've been reading a fair number, of what can only be, self published, books that sell in the $1-$3 range. These are books that would never get printed and stocked in a brick and mortar store. Some of them are pretty good reads for very little dough. They could use some basic editing now and then but I haven't run into anything much worse than the big houses are letting getting through these days. Nothing makes more upset than paying $20 or $30 for a new release and having to guess at the missing words and look up misspelled words just to make sure I don't have gaps in my vocabulary. The same is true for printed periodicals. Where have all the print editors gone?

Take a stroll through the cheep books, you may find some interesting reads. (This isn't shameless self promotion, no one would read any book I wrote even if it was free. )

I would laugh, but that would intolerably rude. Publishers... sharing money... with the authors!

The publishing industry as it stands today is a shadow of it's former self. Just like Hollywood they depend upon big name reliable bestsellers like James Patterson (now a one man industry - seriously, look it up)

Editors? Like one's who actually read and help the author shape the work? Thing of the past (although truthfully, that's always been a stronger trait in the American publishing industry than anywhere else) And don't even get me started on the proofreading and correction editors. Ten years ago, you'd be hard pressed to find typos. These days I'm surprised if I don't find one in a recent release.

But in truth, someone's gotta pay those salaries and those real estate costs in Manhattan!

I would laugh, but that would intolerably rude. Publishers... sharing money... with the authors!

The publishing industry as it stands today is a shadow of it's former self. Just like Hollywood they depend upon big name reliable bestsellers like James Patterson (now a one man industry - seriously, look it up)

Editors? Like one's who actually read and help the author shape the work? Thing of the past (although truthfully, that's always been a stronger trait in the American publishing industry than anywhere else) And don't even get me started on the proofreading and correction editors. Ten years ago, you'd be hard pressed to find typos. These days I'm surprised if I don't find one in a recent release.

But in truth, someone's gotta pay those salaries and those real estate costs in Manhattan!

I wonder if they still heat the buildings by burning the returned unsold copies?